The ultimate goal in designing a fixed wing VTOL aircraft is to be able to take off and land vertically and still have a smooth transition to a higher cruise speed and a relatively long range.
It also needs to have a simple and effective way of controlling the aircraft during vertical take off or landing, and in transition to horizontal flight.
My previous patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,531 DUCTED PROPELLER AIRCRAFT) addresses the difficult challenge of vertical or short takeoff or landing in fixed wing aircraft with high speed cruise, with a multiple propeller configuration.
With this present invention, I am simplifying the propulsion system by using only one propeller. With the single propeller this aircraft is more efficient, it is lighter, simpler, and safer. By tilting the whole aircraft forward to produce a horizontal thrust component, and using a single propulsion system, for vertical and horizontal flight, this invention eliminates a lot of mechanical complexity, and makes it an easy transition from vertical to horizontal flight, and vice versa.
Many previous designs have included two separate power sources (one for vertical thrust and one for horizontal) (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,469,294; 3,083,935 and 3,388,878); ducted fans mounted in the fixed wings which rotate from horizontal to vertical (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,335,977); diverting jet engine exhaust turbo fans mounted above fixed wings and transitioning exhaust, through ducting from vertical to horizontal (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,490) and the numerous tilt wings and tilt engine concepts configured from the late 1930's to today.
All of these embodiments involve at least one of the three most troublesome aspects of VTOL aircraft designs. They may involve:                1) Cumbersome, and therefore heavy, mechanisms for moving massive structures such as wings or ducted fan assemblies; or        2) Sacrificing aerodynamic smoothness, thereby creating unacceptable drag; or        3) Multiple power plants or complex drive trains, thus increasing weight and lowering performance.        
The goal of the present invention is to avoid all of these previously mentioned troublesome elements of S/VTOL designs while maintaining good performance during horizontal flight (high speed and long range) and efficient attitude control during hovering and transition flight, the ultimate intended configuration of all VTOL aircraft.